Back in 2001, Building went to visit an architect in a small Suffolk village who had persuaded 15 locals to use a mixture of lime and hemp for their building projects. The architect showed Building around his lime and hemp home extension, waxing lyrical about the material's low environmental impact, excellent insulation properties and breathability.The architect's name was Ralph Carpenter, the village was called Hartest and, according to Tom Woolley, professor of architecture at Queen's University Belfast and an expert on natural building materials, Carpenter is the "grandfather" of lime hemp construction. Carpenter first saw the material, called hempcrete, in France in 1994 and initially found it ideal for repairing the local wattle and daub buildings. He then used it to build his extension and other local projects including two hempcrete homes for Suffolk Housing Society.
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